The Congress today levelled charges of a “RSS-BJP backed conspiracy” after a man posing as a journalist tried to throw a shoe at its chief spokesman, Janardan Dwivedi.
The assailant, Sunil Kumar, reportedly hailed from Rajasthan and claimed he represented a publication called Nav Sanchar Patrika. He was taken into police custody. Congress general secretary Digvijay Singh told Delhi police commissioner B K Gupta: “We want to know the real identity of that man. Where he belongs to and who had sent him here.” The incident happened during the routine media briefing at party headquarters, minutes after Kumar himself asked a pro-Congress question and got a detailed reply from Dwivedi.
The Congress quickly linked it to a ‘Sangh Parivar conspiracy’. “What we have seen today is the ugly face of fascism and RSS ideology, which teaches violence to people. This thing has happened when the real face of RSS and BJP are getting exposed.” Digvijay Singh said.
Dwivedi said: “This is pre-planned. They knew that I will hold a briefing today on the subject of the recent developments. So, they wanted to attack us.”
Before the 2009 elections, a Sikh journalist had hurled shoes at Union home minister P Chidambaram in a similar briefing at party headquarters.